Former Presidential Office secretary-general Mark Chen (陳唐山) yesterday reaffirmed his determination to run in the year-end local elections, saying he would not back down or run as an independent.
Chen told reporters in Taipei yesterday that he could not quit now and that it was not necessary for him to drop out of the party to run in the Tainan County commissioner election as an independent.
It was not democratic for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to nominate someone else simply because it wanted to distance itself from former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), he said, adding that Tainan residents just wanted to elect a good commissioner.
“The person does not have to be a DPP member, or Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] or independent,” he said. “But that person must be damn good.”
Mark Chen said since he served as Tainan County commissioner for eight years, most residents knew how good he was.
He said DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had never told him personally why she did not nominate him, but it only made sense to nominate the person leading in the opinion polls.
Speculation is rife that Tsai did not nominate Mark Chen because she wanted to distance herself from the former president, who expressed the hope that Mark Chen would represent the party in the election.
Mark Chen said that he could not fathom why he could not have a close relationship with the former president.
There were also calls for him to give the younger generation a chance to run. Mark Chen, however, said that if the argument held water, they should also ask former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) not to run.
“The party must respect public opinion, not ignore it,” he said. “If a government cannot take care of the majority of poor people, it cannot protect the minority of the rich.”
While some have criticized him for not setting his sights on a more important position, such as president, Mark Chen said that a big shot should take care of the problems of the common man.
Besides, a “small county commissioner” has many things to do, he said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
Taiwan next year plans to launch its first nationwide census on elderly people living independently to identify the estimated 700,000 seniors to strengthen community-based healthcare and long-term care services, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said on the sidelines of a healthcare seminar that the nation’s rapidly aging population and declining birthrate have made the issue of elderly people living alone increasingly pressing. The survey, to be jointly conducted by the MOHW and the Ministry of the Interior, aims to establish baseline data and better allocate care resources, he
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